This postcard shows acrobats performing on a stage on South Minnesota Avenue in St. Peter. The Four Flying Banvards are shown in front of businesses along the west side of the 300 block on the avenue on the Fourth of July in 1908.

During storms water from waves collect in the piers which are designed with drainage gaps so the water runs back into the canal. Here, there is melted snow and a small pack of snow at the base of the pier's walkway that blocks the drainage.

This post card was mailed in 1906, but the image is from an earlier year. In the 1890s commercial fishing on Lake Superior was feeding Duluth and the entire Midwest with major operators: A. Booth and Sons (whose sign is visible at the left), Lake Superior Fish Company, H. Christiansen and Sons.

The caption says The Aerial Bridge Span 393 feet 9 inches, 135 feet high from water line, cost $100,000 Duluth, Minn. A few more details that are not on this card are that the Aerial Bridge was completed in February, 1905. The Aerial Bridge transporter or gondola or transfer car roadway was 17 feet by 50 feet with sidewalks seven feet by 50 feet and the cabins were 30 feet long. This original bridge was modified with the lift span in 1929 and first operated March 19, 1930.

The caption of this post card says Clear span, 400 feet; clear height, 136 feet; total height above water, 186 feet. This view shows the waterfront when it was warehouses and wharves, docks, railroad freight sheds and slips. This view is probably from Skyline boulevard which, at this time, would have been called Rogers' Boulevard. William Rogers was the first parks department commissioner. In December 1959 the Duluth City Council and Mayor E. Clifford Bork changed the name of Rogers parkway and Skyline Boulevard to Skyline Parkway.

The post card caption says The Aerial Bridge, Span 393 feet 9 inches, 135 feet high from water line. Cost $100,000. This post card illustration is of a view from the waterfront. At the right is the South Breakwater Inner Light Tower. Houses on Minnesota Point are at the far right. Engineer C.A.P. Turner, of the Gillette-Herzog Manufacturing Company of Minneapolis, designed the Ferry Bridge with Suspended Car Transfer in February 1901, meeting federal specifications. Bids were opened March 25, 1901, but only one was received. The Duluth Canal Bridge Company was awarded the contract but abandoned the work. In February, 1904, the Modern Steel Structural Company of Waukesha, Wisconsin was issued a contract. Work began July 20, 1904.

The caption of this post card says The Aerial Bridge, Span 393 feet 9 inches, 135 feet high from water line. Cost $100,000. Entrance to Duluth-Superior Harbor. The white building at the left is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Building constructed in 1906.

The post card caption says The Aerial Bridge, Span 393 feet 9 inches, 135 feet high from water line. Cost $100,000. This post card illustration is of a view from the Duluth harbor with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Building at the left and the South Breakwater Inner Light Tower at the right. Houses on Minnesota Point are at the far right. Engineer C.A.P. Turner, of the Gillette-Herzog Manufacturing Company of Minneapolis, designed the Ferry Bridge with Suspended Car Transfer in February 1901, meeting federal specifications. Bids were opened March 25, 1901, but only one was received. The Duluth Canal Bridge Company was awarded the contract but abandoned the work. In February, 1904, the Modern Steel Structural Company of Waukesha, Wisconsin was issued a contract. Work began July 20, 1904. The aerial bridge transporter or gondola or transfer car roadway was 17 feet by 50 feet with sidewalks seven feet by 50 feet; the cabins were 30 feet long.

The information on this post card says Crowd leaving bridge; The Aerial Bridge; Miniature Train, White City. Joyland White City was the name of the amusement park at the end of Minnesota Point at Oatka Park. It was named White City based upon the buildings constructed at the recently experienced World's Fair where buildings were constructed using "white" building materials. There were rides and a pavilion for performances, dances and music. White City was short lived, about 1905-1911. The pavilion remained and the location reverted to the prior name of Oatka Park. The small train was moved to the Duluth zoo when the last features of the amusement park were dismantled in the 1950s. This post card was mailed in July 1907.

In 1893, James J. Hill's Northern Steamship Company built 385-foot ocean style passenger steamers. In 1911, the peak year, 80,000 passengers traveled to Lake Superior. After 1920, the number of passenger cruise ships diminished with the advent of "motor-cars." Very few cruise ships were still in service after World War II. The Canadian steel steamer Huronic was constructed in Collingwood, Ontario, in 1902. She ran on the Northern Navigation Division of the Canadian Steamship Company, on cruise trips from Detroit to Duluth. In 1940, the Huronic was dismantled and made into a package freighter.

Ore boat leaving Duluth. Detroit Publishing Co. was a prolific post card publisher, especially in the U.S. Their cards were published from 1898 to 1933. Using a color process called Phostint, their cards were considered to be very artistic. The hobby of collecting post cards is called deltiology. The first post card was issued by the Austrian government, America's first postcards came out in 1873. Picture postcards were introduced later. The golden age of postcards was supposed to date from 1907 through the first World War.

Whaleback is an unusual ship design with steel hulls (body of the vessel) and rounded decks (boat, hurricane, main -which is the lowest full-length deck in a ship's hull, and spar are all decks at different levels) which was introduced by the inventor Captain Alexander McDougall of Duluth in 1888. It was a very stable vessel. American Steel Barge Company, a New York corporation engaged in shipbuilding and transportation on the Great Lakes as well as on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, purchased all of the patents for McDougalls whaleback vessels for $25,000. The only remaining whaleback is the Meteor, which is now a museum at Barker's Island in Superior, Wisconsin.

John H. Darling (1847-1942), U.S. Engineer for Duluth-Superior Harbor, oversaw replacement of the original wooden canal piers with concrete piers in 1897. The piers have been maintained and repaired with a major remodeling/rehabilitation in 1985-1986.